Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to meet ahead of the BRICS summit in New Delhi, according to the Kremlin. The bilateral meeting comes as India balances longstanding ties with Russia against a wider network of partnerships with the US, Europe and Indo-Pacific countries.
The relationship remains important across defence, energy, nuclear cooperation, space and multilateral diplomacy. For UPSC, the immediate meeting is less important than the strategic pattern: India continues to pursue multi-alignment, maintaining issue-based partnerships rather than treating major-power relationships as mutually exclusive.